25 Tricky IQ Questions and Answers

If brain teasers are your idea of relaxation, put on your thinking caps for our 25 tricky IQ questions and answers! We promise to deliver you some mind-boggling questions!

You’ve probably done a few intelligence tests or IQ test online. This article is no such thing. We’re here just to give you pleasure in solving the puzzles. This is one of the hobbies we could congratulate you on. IQ questions don’t have that name for no reason. By putting some effort into finding the answers to what seems to be rather simple questions, you are doing an excellent exercise and your brain should be thanking you for them. Psychology Today underlines what you’ve already been aware of: solving puzzles and riddles is extremely beneficial for our mental health and cognitive functions. Solving simple mathematical problems is good for our self-confidence, and it also helps the brain restore some functions it may be struggling with. Therefore, opening this article means you’re on the right path!

There are plenty of IQ test questions with answers for free out there, but people mostly look for tricky IQ questions with answers in pdf. After all, that’s what has brought you here, hasn’t it? You’re sick and tired of doing tests that you first have to complete fully in order to see the answers to what really interests you. Or the quiz is only a lure to some more quizzes instead of simply providing you with some easy test questions and answers. That’s not going to be the case here. We’ll be giving you a question or a puzzle, and immediately an answer to go with it. We respect your impatience.

In order to really make your grey matter active, we decided to exclude too easy IQ questions with answers from our list, or those that look like a child’s play, such as: Which letter of the English alphabet flies, sings, and stings?

The answer: ‘B’. You can expect some logical deduction, common sense and calculation abilities to be challenged on our list of tricky IQ questions and answers. Our sources for this topic were: Mind Your Decisions, News, BRiddles and Root Report. What were our criteria? As we have mentioned before, we tried to include tricky IQ questions that aren’t that common. Also, the questions should test your brain with different tasks. There are questions with number orders, replacing letters and numbers, logical thinking questions, and calculations. One thing is for sure: you’re going to enhance your cognitive skills by reading them.

Curious to know where other brainiacs like you are living at the moment? Check out our list of smartest countries with the highest average IQ in the world in 2017. If you’re getting ready to join the genius crowd, it’s best to do some preparation by reading 8 Mensa IQ Test Questions You Need to Answer to Join Mensa.

Are you ready to start? Let’s see how you’ll score with our 25 tricky IQ questions and answers! Just kidding, don’t worry. We aren’t keeping track of your right or wrong answers. No pressure here.

25. The Bat and a Ball Problem

Question: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? _____ cents

Answer: Say the ball costs X. Then the bat costs $1 more, so it is X + 1. So we have bat + ball = X + (X + 1) = 1.1 because together they cost $1.10. This means 2X + 1 = 1.1, then 2X = 0.1, so X = 0.05. This means the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs $1.05.

24. Intuition vs. IQ

Question: If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? _____ minutes

Answer: If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, then it takes 1 machine 5 minutes to make 1 widget (each machine is making a widget in 5 minutes). If we have 100 machines working together, then each can make a widget in 5 minutes. So there will be 100 widgets in 5 minutes.

23. Patch of Lily Pads

Question: In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake? _____ days

Answer: Every day FORWARD the patch doubles in size. So every day BACKWARDS means the patch halves in size. So on day 47, the lake is half full.

22. Which Do You Light First?

Question: You have a match, and you enter a wagon with a candle, a lamp, and a fireplace. Which one do you light first?

Answer: Your match.

21. The Penguin Problem

Question: Which one is correct? “Penguins flies” or “A Penguin flies”

Answer: Neither. Penguins don’t fly.

Let’s see the top 20 tricky IQ questions and answers, shall we?

20. The One with Apples

Question: You have 20 apples in a basket. 20 children come to you, and each one of them asks for an apple. You want to give all the apples to each one of them, but still keep one inside the basket? How will you do it?

Answer: Give all the 19 apples to each one of them and give the basket to the last child with the apple still inside it.

19. The one with Mt. Everest

Question: Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Answer: Mount Everest was still the highest even though it had not been discovered.

18. Father, Son, and The Surgeon

Question: A man and his son were in an automobile accident. The man died on the way to the hospital, but the boy was rushed into surgery. The emergency room surgeon said, “I can’t operate, that’s my son!” How is this possible?

Answer: The surgeon was his mother.

17. The One with the Airplane Crash

Question: There was an airplane crash, every single person on board died, but yet two people survived. How is this possible?

Answer: The two were married.

16. The One with Birthdays

Question: How many birthdays does the average person have?

Answer: Just one, all the rest are anniversaries.

We are continuing with the top 15 tricky IQ questions and answers on our list.

15. ‘The Intruder’ Brain Teaser

Question: Which one of the five is least like the other four?

billiards; badminton; baseball; golf; football;

Answer: Football — the only sport played without something in your hands

14. The Analogy Riddle

Question: Virus is to a vaccine as an exam is to:

trying; passing; attempting; studying; failing;

Answer: Studying — A virus is fixed by a vaccine, the same way an exam is helped by studying.

13. The Math Problem

Question: Eric needs 13 bottles of water from the store. He can only carry three bottles at a time. What’s the minimum number of trips he has to make to the store?

a)4.5

b) 3

c)4

d) 5

e)3.5

Answer: Five trips — Eric can only carry three bottles per trip meaning after four trips he’ll be left with one bottle. His fifth trip, Eric will carry one.

We’re halfway through our list of 25 tricky IQ questions and answers, and now, let’s see the other half.

12. Decrypting Patterns

Question: Which of the numbers does not belong to the following series?

2-3-6-7-8-14-15-30

Answer: 8 — The sequence’s pattern functions by adding one then multiplying by two.

11. Choose the Number

Question: Pick the number that is 1/4 of 1/2 of 1/5 of 200.

a) 14

b) 4

c)5

d)10

e) 15

Answer: 5 — A fifth of 200 is 40, halving that gives you 20 and then dividing that by four will leave you with five.

And now for some more tricky IQ questions and answers. Tired yet?

10. Distance Problem

Question: Two towns are exactly 100 km apart. Rakesh leaves City A driving at 30 km/hr, and Harish leaves City B a half an hour later driving 60 km/hr. Who will be closer to City A when they meet?

Answer: Both would be the same distance from City A.

9. Chacha Chaudhary Puzzle

Question: Chacha Chaudhary (name of a person) is convicted in Germany. He gets the death penalty. The judge allows him to say the last sentence in order to determine the way the penalty will be carried out. If he lies, he will be hanged; if he speaks the truth, he will be beheaded. The person speaks the last sentence, and to everybody’s surprise some minutes later he is set free because the judge cannot determine his penalty.What did Chacha Chaudhary say?

Answer: Chacha Chaudhary said: ‘I shall be hanged!’ If he was lying, he would be hanged. But that’s what the Chacha was saying. So he speaks the truth. But if he speaks the truth, he would be beheaded, so then he was not speaking the truth. So it is impossible for the judge to determine whether the person speaks the truth or not. So, therefore, the judge cannot determine the penalty and sets him free.

8. Hourglass Time Puzzle

Question: There are 2 sand hourglasses. The small one can measure 5 hours, and the large one can measure 7 hours. How can we measure 16 hours with 2 sand hourglasses running together?

Answer: 

Steps:

* Start both sand hourglasses at the same time.
* You flip over the small sand hourglass when it finishes the first 5 hours.
* Flip over the large one when it finishes its first 7 hours.
* When the small sand hourglass runs to 10 hours, flip over the small and large sand hourglass at the same time. It means the large sand hourglass will run 3 hours again. When the large sand hourglass run to 13 hours (7 + 3 + 3), flip both the small and large sand hourglass over again to run another 3 hours.

7. Another One with the Apples

Question: If there are 6 apples and you take away 4, how many do you have?

Answer: The 4 you took.

6. Another Math Problem

Question: Tina, who is 16 years old, is 4 times as old as her brother. How old will she be when she is twice as old as he?

Answer: 24 — When you divide Tina’s age, 16, into four, you’ll find that her brother is four. Meaning, when Tina is 24, her brother will be 12. When he’s 12, her brother will be half Tina’s age.

5. And one more…

Question: How much dirt is there in a hole 3 feet deep, 6 ft long and 4 ft wide?

Answer: None, or it wouldn’t be a hole.

4. Logical Thinking Riddle

Question: I have 100 coins in my wallet. What is the minimum number of coin(s) required in order to make sure each coin touch exactly three other coins?

Answer: 4 — 3 placed flat on the table in a triangle(touching each other) and put the fourth one on top of them in the middle.

Up next we have top three tricky IQ questions and answers.

3. Roman Number Equation Problem

Question: Considering below equation holds,

V + II – VI = 10
IV – X + VIII = 20
IV – VII + VI = 30

then, I + II + III = ?

Answer: 60

V + II – VI = 10
=> I = 10

IV – X + VIII = 20
=> II = 20

IV – VII + VI = 30
=> III = 30

I + II + III = 10 + 20 + 30

2. Easy Logic Problem

Question: My sock drawer has 26 blue socks, 13 pink socks, 33 green socks, and 12 red socks. How many socks would I have to pull out in the dark to be sure I had a matching pair?

Answer: Five. There are only four colors, so five socks guarantee that two will be the same color.

And now, let’s see the last for our list of 25 tricky IQ questions and answers:

1. The Analogy Riddle

Question: OCEAN is to AENCO as 89653 is to…..?

a) 85369

b) 56389

c) 56398

d) 65398

Answer: 56398 — By attributing each number to a letter from the word OCEAN, you find the solution.

This wraps it up for our list of 25 tricky IQ questions and answers.